—MALEWICZ—

I stood over a body. The body of oh so dearly departed father, that is. And others, yes others. Around ‘dearest father’ were littered the bodies of sister, of brother! And yes, their children too, all arranged meticulously! According to the grimoire, the GREAT Mowysmierica! So too was mother, oh poor mother lying on the ground, not sleeping, oh no no. Bloodless and drained, yes oh yes drained, the blood spilling and pooling, creeping and running, all to the vessel... That I would consume, yes.

Now all that was to be done was to fill the site with mana. By speaking the six forbidden words, the energy of my attachment should be rented apart! And my essence, my SOUL would be severed from death, from LIFE! The cycle transcended in but a moment. During this time, I needed only to die! Which will sever my soul from the cycle forever, yes for good—no, for evil! I would become a LICH, following in the steps of Hesmir. Perhaps… greater than Hesmir!

—???—

The forbidden six steps. There is much adieu about these little words, but in truth…

.

.

.

They are simply a falsehood, a mere fabrication of the Church told to gullible stooges such that they reveal themselves inevitably to Paladins or Knights. The logic, if it can be called that, of the severance from the cycle? All made up, and in truth Malewicz had simply read a book, well, perhaps not even read, and decided, based on this book, to kill his entire family. He had decided to gain power and eternal life! At the cheap cheap price… of wiping out his entire blood relations. And then killing himself. Genius, really.

At the family’s celebration of Dresvyna, no less.

The man was… not stable, in the mental department. The whole ordeal was a small price to pay for Malewicz though. He never did like his family anyway, they had always called him dumb, you see.

—MALEWICZ—

I looked now at Father’s face, his DEAD eyes boring into me. He had never liked me oh no. He’d always called me dumb! Even naive! 

Well, he’ll see, oh they’ll all see, once I become the SECOND. ARCH. LICH! 

Nay nay nay! Perhaps ‘Arch-Lich’ would be too low a title, for my grandeur, yes, I will be the FIRST. ARCH. ARCH. LICH! Yes, Arch-Arch-Lich, a fitting title for my magnificicancence!

But now, to the tome!

I paged through the GREAT Mowysmierica, or as those ‘in-the-know’ know it to be true, the ‘ɐɔᴉɹǝᴉɯsʎʍoW’.

Yes, a hard to wrap your head around notion no? Well, to one as intellectual as I, it is the TRUE name of the great tome.

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Hesmir had written it, that first Arch-Lich, that fool soon to be overshadowed. Nay overlit! Completely. Well, the fool had helped my SPLENDOR. Perhaps Hesmir could earn himself a fleeting mention in the coming chronicles of my rise to world power. Yes…

—???—

Of course, in truth, the reign of even a regular lich, let alone an… ‘Arch-Arch-Lich’ leaves behind naught but corpses(and indeed often takes those!). Who exactly was writing these supposed chronicles, reporting on the rise of Malewicz, or indeed reporting on this very moment, was a mystery. 

—MALEWICZ—

I, at last, reached the last page of the GREAT Mowysmierica, a struggle owing to the book’s complex writing style without doubt, having been written upside down, and indeed even backwards! An enigmatic mess of evil trickery to turn away the average simpleton from its secrets and pages, no doubt.

—???—

In truth, of course, the book was simply upside down. Malewicz had convinced himself(something quite easy to do) otherwise, believing it to be simply the way it was written due to an unfortunate misplacing of a book sleeve.

And the book, the supposed great Mowysmierica? It was but a book of children’s rhymes.

—MALEWICZ—

Now to speak the dark words of TRUTH!

“Uh… Sa.. za ee biki, bra…sowy… les, les preh-presayska…je… Leniwengo. Psalm.” Psalm was something of a personal touch to the spell, the Mowysmierica’s text had simply said ‘psa’, you see. But I recognized the BLUNDER that had occurred, the word had been cut off! Having gone to the false gods’ church a few times, I sagely recognized the word ‘psalm’.

A word used to comune to gods, and indeed dark ones too without doubt. Magic ones, surely, at least.

Now all that was left was to consume the vessel of blood. And then? To kill the self but for a moment. But! In my grand genius, I had figured out a way… to combine the steps! I filled the vessel with poison in addition to blood, and, as such, I would ascend directly!

YES! Without all the mess of… slitting my throat, something I was… not scared of, however… hesitant! Yes, hesitant! For it might be a trap, placed for the unwise, and those unable to truly decipher Hesmir’s words.

I approached the chalice and drank… lightly. Not out of fear, of course, but out of… surety! For you see, one can onl—

—???—

And thus, Malewicz died.